PM Plenkovic: Komsic's election not good for Bosnia

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that electing Zeljko Komsic as the representative from among the Croat people in the Bosnia and Herzegovina tripartite presidency was not good for the Croat people and for Bosnia and Herzegovina in general.

“I congratulate all who were elected. I am sad to see that an old story repeated itself once more. We are again in a situation where members of one constituent people on the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are electing a representative of another, the Croat people,” Plenkovic said.

He said he regretted that Dragan Covic of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia (HDZ BiH), Plenkovic’s own Croatian Democratic Union’s (HDZ) sister party, was not elected to the post of the representative from the Croat constituent people in the presidency.

"I think the incumbent representative of the Croat people Dragan Covic made key strides, with Croatia’s support, on Bosnia’s road to the EU. I think that fact could and should have been honoured. In any case it is not good for this scenario to be repeated," Plenkovic said.

Zagreb will continue nurturing good relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, he added.

Komsic, a Social Democrat who has served two terms in the presidency, was leading with 49.5 percent of the vote over Dragan Covic from the largest Croat, HDZ party.

Covic, who had 38 percent votes, conceded defeat but warned of a "never-seen-before" crisis in the country.

Komsic sought to reassure voters, saying, "I will serve all citizens, even if they didn't vote for me."

On Friday, Komsic criticised Andrej Plenkovic for coming to Mostar to give his support to Covic, saying that officials from Serbia and Croatia were barging in onto Bosnia's territory like bandits and meddling into Bosnia's election process.